Standing on the shoulders of giants 💙

Prime Future 159: the newsletter for innovators in livestock, meat, and dairy

Last week my granddad, Papa, went to Heaven. I’ve been trying to urgently capture all the lessons from his life and since Prime Future is where I learn out loud, this feels like the place to share the things he taught me about business and leadership.

My love for all things business, especially anything pioneering like starting & growing businesses, started when I was a little girl and he would tell me about their farming journey. I loved hearing the pride of accomplishment, of overcoming challenges, of excellence.

My grandparents met at the classroom pencil sharpener when they were 14 years old. They were married 72 years and were the greatest duo you can imagine. He went to Heaven 10 days ago; she’ll join him any minute.

I’ve narrowed it down to the top 13 lessons:

1) It’s more fun to pioneer.

Nina & Papa grew up in Oklahoma but moved in 1952 to find opportunity in the irrigated farmland of southeast Arizona. This was cotton country at that time, but Papa was intrigued by the barely emerging chili industry. He began growing chili and it became a life art for him; he was an early pioneer at the beginning of a growing industry which he pushed forward the rest of his life. When the crop insurance program expanded in 1980, he began selling crop insurance to other farmers. 

I was once talking through a career decision with him and he finally said, “Well it sounds like the one that’s more challenging will be the most fun and you’ll learn more along the way.” That’s the option I chose, and it was. 

2) Look for opportunity & seize it when you see it.

My Papa was really, really big on opportunity. He grew up in the Great Depression and Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and had a hunger to make something of himself and help other people do the same. He started farming in an era when easy money wasn't a thing and getting started was reeally hard so this idea was always important to him.

Since I went all in on agtech my Papa would joke about not understanding what I do but that he's proud of me for it. The time I most knew this was when I overheard him give the pitch for my first startup to his old farmer buddies. Tbh he gave the pitch better than I did!

3) Pursue excellence - if you're going to do it, do it well.

One small example of this was that Papa was big on finding the best chili genetics & seed at a time when that was not very popular because it meant higher input cost, but Papa was locked in on making more profit on the back end of the crop.

4) Double down on what works.

Papa told the story of a guy who went to his banker because he had some money and he was deciding where to invest it. The banker asked him how he made his money. Making donuts, the guy said. I’d go make more donuts if I were you, the banker replied.

Papa loved this story and the idea that when you find something you love and can make money at, do more of that.

5) Stay in the game.

He would tell of the 1956 cattle market crash and a string of bad luck events that came afterwards, but they scrapped their way out of the hole by sheer grit and some luck and a lot of creativity. He'd say you have to stay in the game. “You don’t make mistakes if you aren’t doing anything, but if you aren’t doing anything then that’s the big mistake.”

6) Manage your business, closely.

Stay on top of things, have a plan, be present, know your numbers. I've always thought he loved chili largely because it was a crop that required great management to do well, it was an art. "Hardly anything just works on its own, you gotta make it work." He would joke about farmers who were ‘coffee shop boys’, more interested in gossip than managing their business.

7) “Things are never as good as they look or as bad as they seem.”

I can picture him saying this, cautioning us to not get swept up in the highs or carried away in the lows. Whether with markets or anything else.

8) Papa was a leader’s leader. He had super high expectations for people, held them to high standards, and treated them well.  He believed in being firm when needed but prioritizing kindness.

Our family tradition is that when someone dies, we bring shovels to the graveside and we fill the dirt in on top of the casket ourselves. Like one last chance to show respect and take care of our own. From the oldest to the toddlers, everybody carries at least one shovel of dirt. When we buried Papa, there were people who had worked for him 30, 40, or 50 years ago that were right there with us in that process, with a tear in their eyes. Taking care of him to the end like he was one of their own because he’d made them feel like they were one of his own.

It was awesome to see that kind of loyalty and respect that can only be inspired by great leadership. I’ve read a lot of leadership books, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the evidence of genuine leadership so vividly. 

9) Good habits enable success.

He was a day-in, day-out disciplined guy. He was about the routines that made the day more productive, and enjoyable. And that good habits become a great life.

10) Be generous, quietly.

A week before he died we had a long talk about generosity. He was big on filling a need when you see it, if you have the means to do so, and doing it quietly. 

Keep learning. Invest wisely. Spend money to make money. Live within your means but buy quality. "It's easier to make money than it is to keep money together."

He loved new technology, whether in a tractor or a cell phone. We called him our iPapa because he wore out 3 iPads and 3 iPhones….in his 80’s.

11) He taught me how to think about markets: 

71% of my core beliefs about markets I learned from my grandparents’ beliefs about commodity markets. They built their farming operation around 3 principles:

(1) Excellence - find better markets where better quality is rewarded.

(2) Diversification - don't be overexposed to any one market.

(3) Stay alive - trying to time markets is a fool's errand. "You can't go broke locking in a profit" my granddad would say.

12) Work hard, play hard, rest well.

They worked so hard farming but their other love was bass fishing. For 40+ years they made time to go fishing at a beautiful lake in Mexico and when they fished, they fished as intensely as they farmed. Some of my best memories are on the lake where Papa taught me how to cast in just the right place to get a big one, and Nina taught me how to catch an even bigger one by dragging a plastic worm behind the boat. When I was little and impatient (or older and impatient!) they would tell me "Keep your hook in the water; you can't catch anything if you give up!".

13) “Think!”

To say Papa had a bias for action would be a complete lol understatement but he and Nina were also big on planning and thinking things through. They’d always say to the kids “ya gotta think!”

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He would credit my Nina with all of their success. For as optimistic as he was, sometimes Papa could be conservative. She kept the books for the farm and would do the math to show how the next land purchase would pencil out. She would say “can’t never could but we can” in the most enthusiastic and sincere way that you couldn’t help but believe her. 

Papa was a man of great faith, integrity, hope, and wisdom. Gratitude was his superpower - he prayed before every meal for us to be grateful and kind.  He was the single funniest human I've ever met.

400 people came to his service at the farm and words like hero and legend were thrown around by a lot of them. He definitely was to us.

One of the greatest blessings of my life is that I got to be Noel Curry’s granddaughter.

I got to be shaped by his pioneering spirit, his courage, his kindness, his faith, his wisdom, his hope, and his optimism. I will forever hear his voice, “There’s always opportunity; you’ve just gotta look for it.”

We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants. The shoulders I stand on every day in my work are my Papa’s.

Paid subscribers - thanks for your patience; I missed last week but will be back next week with regular content for innovators in livestock, meat & dairy.

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